In this episode I talk with Claudio Ottoni about the origin and history of domestic cats.

Episode notes are available on the ArchaeoCafé website.

http://archaeocafe.kvasirpublishing.com/archaeocafe-podcast-ep-234-ottoni/

About Claudio Ottoni

Dr. Ottoni is a professor at the University of Rome "Tor Vergata". His research interests are in biomolecular archaeology and the study of ancient DNA as a tool to reconstruct the past of human and animal populations. In particular, much of his research has focused on the history of cat-human interactions and particularly through the use of palaeogenetics. He has previously lead research projects at the Center for Archaeological Sciences (CAS) of the KU Leuven University, in Belgium, the Center for Ecology and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES) of the University of Oslo, in Norway, and the Diet and Ancient Technology Laboratory (DANTE) of the Sapienza University of Rome, in Italy. Dr. Ottoni is currently the head of the FELIX project, funded by the European Research Council. 

Web:

https://uniroma.academia.edu/ClaudioOttoni

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Claudio-Ottoni

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=0u2SiNQAAAAJ

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8870-1589

Some useful terminology and links

FELIX project

This project analyses cats from 10,000 years ago until the 19th century from archaeological sites in Europe, the Near and Middle East, and North Africa to gain insights into the cat-human relationship. By reconstructing the genomes and the dietary habits of ancient cats, the objective of the project is to reconstruct the unique biological and ecological features that shaped cat domestication, and the dispersal of domestic cats across the globe.

https://www.ercfelix.com/project/

Domestic cat (Felis catus)

A domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat

Hierakonpolis or Nekhen

The religious and political capital of Upper Egypt at the end of prehistoric Egypt (c. 3200–3100 BCE) and probably during the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3100–2686 BCE).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nekhen

Shillourokambos

A Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) site near Parekklisia, in southern Cyprus occupied from the end of the 9th to the second half of the 8th millennium BCE.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shillourokambos

Selected reading

The Dispersal of the Domestic Cat: Paleogenetic and Zooarcheological Evidence

by Claudio Ottoni and Wim Van Neer

Near Eastern Archaeology, 2020, vol. 83(1), p. 38-45.

https://doi.org/10.1086/707312

The palaeogenetics of cat dispersal in the ancient world

by Claudio Ottoni and others

Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2017, vol. 1, article number 0139

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0139

Of cats and men: The paleogenetic history of the dispersal of cats in the ancient world

by Claudio Ottoni and others

bioRxiv, 2016, article number 080028

https://doi.org/10.1101/080028

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